Significant repairs to King Chapel on Cornell College’s campus are slated to begin in April 2025.

Linn County Planning and Zoning Commission building official Luke Mahoney said that his office was made aware of significant structural issues to the building in March, including the fact walls are pushed out of plain along the building.

Cornell College took action at that point to put out exterior bracing and sensors that monitor the building for any shifts or further failures.

Those sensors monitor the building for changes in any week or more level of the building, and Shive Hattery and Cornell College are kept abreast of any changes.

“There has been no movement of the building to date, and it’s staying in the same condition,” Mahoney said.

Linn County Planning and Zoning had an additional meeting with Cornell College about developing an emergency plan in case there needed to be any more bracing installed.

“Any failures we see we expect to be minor at this point, like bricks falling from the building,” Mahoney said.

Kelly Flege, vice president and chief operating and chief financial officer of Cornell College, said the plan is that a full roof replacement of King Chapel is what the college is looking at doing.

“We’re not tearing the roof off of the building this fall and winter,” Flege said. “Now is not the time to take the roof off the building, but we are looking to start the significant repairs to the building in the spring.”

Mahoney also credited the college for the actions they have taken at the moment to keep people away from the building, including the fencing around the space.

“This building has now made it through the spring and summer storm seasons once again with no additional failures,” Mahoney said. “We feel it is an okay position for the bracing to remain up and move forward with the project again in April.”